


This Must Be the Place

by yoko_oh_no



Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991), DuckTales (Cartoon 1987), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: M/M, NaNoWriMo 2019, drakepad, no I do not care, yes i am cheating and starting early
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-12-23 18:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21085652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoko_oh_no/pseuds/yoko_oh_no
Summary: When Launchpad McQuack decides he has outgrown his childish life, he packs up everything and moves from Duckburg to the crime-filled city of St. Canard. Unexpectedly, he meets his hero and becomes his sidekick. Launchpad discovers himself through his time in St. Canard in ways that he never would have thought of prior to moving there.





	1. Leaving Duckburg

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! As this work is my NaNoWriMo project (that I am cheating on because I am starting early), I just want everyone to know that I will probably be editing this work as I go on. I will post chapters frequently for the next six weeks or so, but I am looking at editing chapters on a weekly basis. This means that content within this fic, as of right now, is subject to change. I apologize for this, but I do not plan on making these edits of major details. These edits will likely be grammatical issues as well as adding in better descriptions.  
Thank you so much for reading this little novel I'm writing. I'm so excited to share it.

Well, that was it. His very last day working with the man himself, Scrooge McDuck. It was officially time for him to say goodbye to the life he had built in Duckburg. Launchpad McQuack feared what was coming next. He knew deep down that he would miss all of the plane crashes and the carefree life he led with the McDuck family, but it was time for him to take on some responsibility at long last. He was truly going to miss the friends he made, but he had spent so much of his time doddling around since he had moved to Duckburg in the first place. Though he was in his early 30’s, he found it hard to believe that he wasn’t still a child. He couldn’t blame himself. Having lived with such a wealthy family, he had almost forgotten how to take care of himself. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t even positive he knew how to take care of himself.

Everything from the garage he had resided in for the past several years was packed up in neat little boxes that Mrs. Beakley helped him put together. Even though Launchpad hadn’t done much else besides cause trouble since the beginning, she had always been so kind to him and accepted him for what he was.

Then there were the kids. Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby. My, had the bond between the five of them grown overtime. They went from not knowing the pilot at all to considering him one of their very best friends. It helped that Launchpad was internally a child. Though he felt like he shouldn’t pick favorites of the kids, he knew that deep-down he had to pick Dewey. Dewey was the most childish child around. This was a quality that Launchpad really appreciated. He pondered over the many memories they had made together.

One of his favorite memories he had of being with Dewey was the time they decided to make a jetpack out of Pep. It was possibly the worst idea that they ever had, but it created one of those memories that stuck no matter what you did to shake it off. He could still vividly see the duckling flying through the air while getting covered with a sticky mess. They both smelled of the cola for several days after the fact.

There was something very final about the whole McDuck family being inside the plane he had recently built. It was built in the shape of his idol, Darkwing Duck. It was definitely a weird choice, but he concluded that it was okay. Darkwing was someone who Launchpad had admired since he made his first appearance around twelve years ago. Countless boxes inside the plane, affectionately dubbed the Thunderquack, were filled with Darkwing Duck memorabilia. Launchpad’s personal favorite was the small bobble head that would say Darkwing’s catchphrase every time he pressed down on the head of it. He kept it on the dashboard of the Sunchaser for the longest time, but Mister McDee had him move it off of there since he was leaving them. It now sat in the same spot, but this time it was in the Thunderquack.

Launchpad heaved out a heavy sigh. Moving out and being on his own for the first time ever was horribly daunting, but he felt like he was finally ready to take on the world and do better than he had done. Responsibility was something that had grown on him. As time went on, he began to think of the McDuck children as his own kids, though. Leaving the four of them all alone was something that was undesirable at best.

He could still recall the day he got close with Louie. In a lot of ways, Louie would consider himself to be the black sheep of the family. He didn’t like adventuring as much as the other kids did and would much prefer to have a lazy day in.

The two of them had gone on an adventure alone. It wasn’t exactly on purpose. Louie was in trouble because he hadn’t done much besides lie around all day, so Mr. McDuck sent him with Launchpad to make a quick delivery. Launchpad, of course, crashed the Sunchaser and they were stuck in Ithaquack all by themselves. The unlikely duo had to discover why half of Ithaquack was perfectly tidy, while the other half looked completely destroyed. It was thrilling, but also stirred up a lot of fear within the two of them. When Louie was quivering with fear, saying that he was unable to push forward, Launchpad scooped him up in his arms, ran to a safer location, and held onto him for a prolonged period of time. He told Louie that everything was going to be okay, though he had somewhat of a tough time believing this himself. At the end of the whole horrific fiasco, Louie told him that he was surprised Launchpad didn’t have a child of his own because of how he knew exactly what to say.

That was the moment Launchpad realized that he was outgrowing the McDuck family. Nobody could have known that, but he suddenly became aware of the fact that he was no longer a child. On the flight back to Duckburg, he laughed with Louie about all of the new inside jokes they had. Jokes that nobody else in the family would understand except for the two of them. The thought that it was time to go forced itself into the back of the larger duck’s mind.

A few weeks later, he invited Mr. McDuck over the the garage he lived in and announced that he felt it was time for him to leave. He knew that as long as he lived in McDuck Manor, he would never truly be independent.

His boss looked relatively alarmed at Launchpad’s idea. Fact of the matter was that nobody else was crazy enough to be Scrooge McDuck’s pilot except for Launchpad. It was unfortunate that he was going to be leaving the McDuck family, but they were all very respectful of his decision, as heartbreaking as it was to see their beloved pilot leave them.

Launchpad pulled everybody into a big group hug. His arms were large enough to cover up every single one of them. A few tears escaped from his eyes. This was it. He was leaving the home he loved for an unknown life in the city of St. Canard. He had no idea when he would be back to Duckburg again, but he knew that the next time he returned, he would find his way back to his chosen family and they would welcome him again with open arms.


	2. All Alone

The Thunderquack was up in the air. Launchpad focused on the sky ahead of him. He would be in St. Canard in a couple of hours. He had a shed-looking area picked out. He would park the Thunderquack in one side of the hangar and sleep on the other side. It was debatable if he would actually try to move the boxes out of the Thunderquack in the first place. Launchpad definitely didn’t have too much to haul out of there by himself, but he felt as though he would want to crash as soon as he arrived in St. Canard. It was getting a bit late, after all.

Steering carefully, he thought about how much he wished he could sleep. Oh well. Once he got to St. Canard, he decided that he would make up his bed and fall asleep. He would worry about everything else in the morning.

Thinking about being alone now was so unfortunate for Launchpad. He couldn’t shake the fact that he didn’t have a job yet, either. It was enough to bring the big guy to tears. He held them back, trying his hardest to see what was ahead of him. The night sky tended to be a little bit more difficult to focus in than the daytime sky.

Landing the plane successfully was unexpected to say the least. Launchpad managed, though, as he had decided that with his new life in his hands, he would throw away the reckless part of his personality. It felt as though he was losing himself, though, he concluded. The Thunderquack was safely in its position in the makeshift hangar within the shed. Launchpad was used to living in some lowkey conditions, but this was much different than his garage. It didn’t quite feel like home yet, but he concluded that it would as time went on. This was how it felt when he moved to Duckburg, after all.

When he moved to Duckburg, he didn’t even have a place to live, though. He was on the streets when he met Scrooge McDuck, the richest duck in the world. Having been a man who was once on the streets himself, he hired Launchpad and offered him a room in his mansion. It was strange how that worked out. It all happened so fast, too. Launchpad didn’t feel quite right accepting the offer from Mr. McDuck, but he kept insisting that he come live with him. One day, he sarcastically suggested that Launchpad should come live in one of the two garages he had. Launchpad accepted this with great delight and moved in immediately. His wealthy boss provided him a bed. It was too small for him, as he was much larger than the average duck, but he was happy nonetheless.

The garage turned into a nice space. They renovated it so that it had a small bathroom and even a little kitchenette. There was not much space for company, but when he did have company, he was glad that it was a cozy space. Girls were more than happy to visit the home of the richest duck in the world if Launchpad invited them, but were often disgusted once they saw that when Launchpad said he lived at McDuck Manor, he meant that he lived in a garage at McDuck Manor. This didn’t bother him too much, though. As friendly as he was, he never really felt too attached to the women he brought with him. It wasn’t something he really questioned too much, though. He always just assumed he appreciated male bonding a little bit more. It made sense. Internally still a child, Launchpad subconsciously must have thought that girls have cooties or something.

After getting his makeshift bedroom set up for the night, he decided it was best to fall asleep. His mattress, still too small for him, was beginning to get a little lumpy. He turned the light out, but he took a while to fall asleep. His mind was filled with billions of thoughts about what was going to come next. In a big city all alone. So many things could go wrong. He felt a certain discomfort, but the night was beginning to consume him. He felt his thoughts slipping away from him as his exhaustion absorbed him into the night.

His dreams contained endless warm thoughts of adventure with his makeshift family. Their location was unknown, but that was okay. The day was not too warm, not too cold. It was blissful. Treasure hunting was something that Launchpad knew he would miss immensely. Tomorrow morning, he would wake up, get himself ready, unpack the Thunderquack a bit better than he had, and then begin his job hunt. He was sure he would get hired somewhere quickly. When your former employer is the richest duck in the world, it’s very easy to get a job. Especially if you play your cards right.

Launchpad, still fast asleep, dreamed of just about everything he could dream of. His mind suddenly went blank. He felt like he wasn’t dreaming anymore because of how empty it felt. There was a banging noise. It almost felt external. He clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to stay asleep. He couldn’t fight it for much longer. His eyes finally opened up, as he realized that the noise wasn’t just from an empty dream; it was actually happening.

_ Great,_ thought Launchpad. _It’s my first night in the city, and some crazy kid has already picked me out as a good person to bother._

He was a little grumpy to lose his short-lived sleep, but got out of bed anyways. He slid his webbed feet into his pink bunny shaped slippers and walked over to the door. It was a little odd that someone was knocking on this door in the night, though. His house was, well, not actually a house. Whoever it was knocking must have had a good reason.


	3. The Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Launchpad meets his hero.

Launchpad scrambled to the front door of his shady new home. He opened the door, expecting an absolute stranger. It wasn’t like he had a porch light to encourage visitors, anyways.

When he opened the door, he saw the complete opposite of a stranger standing there, clearly physically exhausted. Launchpad’s face looked flushed as he looked at the Thunderquack behind him and then back at the short duck in the frame of the door. The duck had a bulky hat that extended far in front of his beak. A purple mask popped color onto his white face. Launchpad tried to stammer out a few words, but it felt as though his heart stopped beating as soon as he laid eyes upon the other duck. His face was helplessly familiar. His legs locked themselves in place and his whole body began to tremble. This was not how he imagined things being on his very first night in St. Canard. Not one single bit.

The words “Darkwing Duck” escaped from the pilot’s beak. He couldn’t help but imagine that if he had a glass of water in his hand, he would have dropped it onto the floor, shattering it into millions of little pieces that he would have to clean up in front of his idol with a feeling far worse than embarrassment.

St. Canard was a big city. The likelihood of meeting the man he’d admired his whole life seemed irrational on the very first night. His voice when he said the words of his hero’s name came out differently than his typical detached inflection. Both of the words slipped out much more pronounced and defined. It was as though he was trying to assert himself as someone that Darkwing should respect.

Darkwing spoke in his regular nasally voice that was so familiar to Launchpad. “So you’ve heard of me?” asked the duck with a flare of the ego he was famous for. Famous to Launchpad McQuack, at least.

Still stunned, Launchpad waved the hero inside his rickety home. The masked duck obliged, nervously peering back over his shoulder before Launchpad closed the door. It seemed like his troublesome thoughts of how much he missed his family vanished instantly. Moving here was life changing.“I’m your biggest fan!” blurted Launchpad. He could hardly contain the excitement in his voice. “I just moved to St. Canard,” he explained. Words were not something that he seemed to be forming as coherently as he would have liked them to in this moment.

The masked mallard moved inside the shed. He took a gander at all of the various boxes lying around. Each box was marked with a woman’s handwriting. His eye was drawn to the several boxes with “Darkwing” scrawled across them. The fact that there was more than one was borderline alarming. Launchpad saw those boxes as being the more valuable ones. He was quite the opposite of minimalist. It took a world of effort for Launchpad not to ask if he could be his sidekick immediately. He concluded that he had to gain his trust first. “What are you doing here, DW?”

A man of dramatics, Darkwing narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to decide whether or not Launchpad was trustworthy enough for him. The way Launchpad spoke to him was almost as though he viewed the hero as an old friend and it was apparent that Darkwing was unsure of how to feel about this.

All Launchpad could think about was how the worst day of his life had suddenly turned into the greatest day ever. He couldn’t wait to tell Dewey about everything that had happened as soon as he got the chance. Once he got settled in and found a job, he would immediately call McDuck manor and talk to that family that he missed so much. While he had qualms about leaving them all, he felt that this move was probably meant to happen. His hero appearing at his new home on the very first night? Something special must have been in the air.

Darkwing resigned himself to admit to Launchpad what he was up to. His eyes were too kind for anyone to not give into a request he had. “It’s Darkwing, not DW,” he insisted before beginning the story of the other duck who had recently shown up. He explained that he was called Negaduck and had a yellow coat and a tattered red hat. Negaduck wanted nothing more than to eradicate Darkwing from existence. The masked mallard was unsure of how to get Negaduck off of his back. Perhaps he would figure it out eventually.

It was difficult for Launchpad to wrap his head around anyone wanting to rid Darkwing, his hero, from existence. It was Nevertheless, he listened as loyally as he could and internally made a promise that he was going to keep the hero safe, though he doubted he needed too much protection. For whatever reason, Launchpad felt like he was inclined to do so. Perhaps it was the protective instinct he had towards the McDuck children searching for something else.

“So you showed up unannounced at a stranger’s house in order to get away from someone who’s trying to kill you? Doesn’t sound too wise to me, DW.”

“It’s Darkwing, not DW,” he insisted again. “What’s your name anyways?”

Launchpad’s eyes widened yet again when asked for his name. “Launchpad McQuack,” said the pilot.


End file.
